NBC News’ town hall with Joe Biden delivered a sizable audience last night, despite having to go up against a special national broadcast of The NFL on CBS (Patriots-Chiefs) and ESPN Monday Night Countdown.
According to Nielsen data, last night’s hour-long town hall, officially named Decision 2020: Joe Biden Town Hall, was the No. 1 nonsports program on TV, having averaged 6.7 million viewers across NBC, MSNBC and CNBC from 8-9 p.m. ET. The 6.7 million total viewer average technically makes it the most-watched town hall during both the 2020 and 2016 election cycles.
Moderated by Lester Holt, the town hall also averaged 1.38 million viewers in adults 25-54, and saw 2 million viewers on the news division’s streaming service NBC News Now.
The network-by-network breakdown has NBC averaging 3.85 million total viewers and 903,000 watching on the broadcast network.
MSNBC attracted 2.67 million total viewers and 437,000 adults 25-54, to go with 171,000 and 37,000 adults watching on CNBC.
How does this town hall stack up against other ones? The 90-minute ABC News town hall with President Donald Trump, President and the People, averaged 3.97 million viewers on Sept. 16 from 9-10:30 p.m. ET, and also topped CNN’s top-rated “drive-in” town hall with former vp Biden, which garnered 3.3 million viewers on the cable network alone.